Sunday, September 11, 2005

Stupid is as stupid does

So says Forrest Gump. But this post on the blog Animal Ethics really got me to thinking about this issue - you know the one - the tired perception among non-AR supporters that animal rights proponents are dimwitted, people-hating, fanatical wackos. In his post, Keith Burgess-Jackson closes with a statement that I found interesting: "I'm starting to think that people who deny animal rights are stupid. "

So, what, if anything, does the literature have to say about who is or is not "stupid?" Or whose moral capabilities are more refined? In the journal Society and Animals, veterinarian Gary Block presents research on fifty-four individuals using a protocol based on Lawrence Kohlberg's cognitive theory of moral development. The paper is well worth reading in its entirety. But I'd like to quote a brief passage from the conclusion:

"Believers in animal rights are sometimes characterized as having retarded moral orientation and defective moral reasoning skills at the root of their beliefs in animal rights. To the contrary, believers in animal rights appear to demonstrate equivalent or higher-level moral reasoning when compared to adult, education-matched members of the general public The results of this study do not support the assumption that these individuals reserve their moral concern exclusively for animals."

So, it looks like people who are extremely compassionate towards animals might just be more compassionate people overall. Many of us who have worked in this field have always known this. But it sure is nice to see it on paper.

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